Clashing of Cadash: Book One
by Glacier Prince
Summary: Join me on my retelling of my head canon! What happens when the Inquisitor and the Herald of Andraste aren't the same person, but are rather, siblings. Join Kari and Adden Cadash journey through the events of DAI, told through Adden's perspective. Active transition to digital copy, though I have the entire story written out on paper. Rated T for the occasional cussing and booze.
1. Prologue

It had been almost ten years since I've been at Haven. I'm different than I was back then, but as we all know, growing up changes you. I was a mere 19 when I visited this place along side Warden Cadence, the fallen Hero of Ferelden, a mage, and a trusted friend. Now, I work for the Carta as added muscle, being chosen for this mission, along with my baby sister, because we both were originally from Ostagar, and I knew the area of Ferelden better than anyone else in the Free Marches branch of the Carta. History is bound to repeat again, however, and I bet the Stone that this visit to Haven will be as disatrous as the last.

Sword and axe in their repsected sheathes, I accompanied my sister Kari and about eight other Carta dwarves along side the steps that would eventually lead to the temple. Kari was nervous, as she hated the Carta life, and always feared that one of the other members would cheat her out of our take and either harm or kill her. There have been other threats towards her, as she's only seven years younger than I, but most of them have been, sexual in nature. I'd give up drinking before I let another man, dwarf or not, touch my sister in that way.

"Adden..." she whispered to me. "You seem on edge."

I put a hand on my Kari's shoulder and then ruffled her shoulder length black hair. "It's just the cold." I said, lying. To be honest to myself, I was waiting for the remnants of that dragon cult to ambush us. Kari moved ahead, rejoining the other two girls in the group. As everyone wandered up the steps, I grabbed the flask from around my waist, and twirled my finger in my auburn beard, thinking about the amount of booze that I consumed on a weekly basis. I shook my head clear before downing the rest of the flask.

"Nice work, idiot!" I was being yelled at by Cotr, the appointed leader of this small group. "How many times do I have to warn you about talking during a deal? Eh? That templar almost had a week's worth of lyrium bought for the price of a month's worth."

I was just sitting in the tavern in the newly cult-free Haven, nursing some mead while trying to fight off memories.

"All you do is drink and fight, like some kind of common mercenary. Pathetic. You show up shit-faced to every single mission, waste everyone's time. The Carta would be better off without you." He paused, and out of the corner of my eye, I could see him smirk. "That sister of your's though...Now there's a fine Carta member."

Fucking pig. I knew what he meant. It's the way everyone in the Free Marches branch looks at Kari. With lust or jealousy in their eyes. The men see her as a trophy, wanting to capture her, or seduce her to claim that they've gotten laid by the most beautiful dwarf in the Free Marches.

I slammed my fists into the table, the alcohol in my blood fueling these next few actions more than anything. Without a stutter in my motion, I slammed the butt of my axe into Cotr's throat, knocking the poor sod back a few feet. I hooked the axe into his ankle, tripping him, before sitting on his chest, aiming my right fist at his face while my left held his neck, gripping tightly.

"Do it..." he said weakly.

I released him, standing back up. "Pigs like you aren't worth it." I spat next to him, raising my head around to the rest of the tavern. Everyone was watching our little bout. "What are you looking at?!" I yelled. "Back to your drinks."

I was standing on the bridge out of Haven, waiting for Kari to finish up whatever deal she had going on inside the temple. I wouldn't go towards that place. Not after having the living shit scared out of me by the Guardian almost ten years ago. I wondered if it was even still there.

It began to snow, a bit more than my fair liking. Reminded me of magic. As a dwarf, I can't even understand most magic, though spending almost a year and a half with three mages, you learn to pick up the weird feelings that magic gives off. I spat on the ground, then took another swig of alcohol. "Kari, where are you?" I tried to picture her in my mind right then.

Green padded jacket, black boots and warm black leggings to match. Bright, emerald green eyes, light skin, black shoulder length hair, with kind of thick eyebrows. Well, not for a dwarf, but for other females, they're a bit thicker. She's beautiful. And my sister. Shit. I have so much work to do if I want to keep her safe.

I started thinking about what could be taking her so long. I had started taking steps down the walkway, headed towards the temple, when an explosion sounded in the direction of the temple. When I looked up, I could see a shockwave fast approaching. I braced myself for the force, but it still knocked me back, forcing me against the bridge, the air being forced out of my lungs.

Stepping up on my feet, I had one thing on my mind. I ran in the direction of the Temple of Sacred Ashes, the abnormal green sky the last thing processing to my senses. The crest of the hill was in sight, multiple people running away from the place I was going. I hate going up hill. Dwarf legs are already useless enough.

The top of the hill is fast approaching. I ascended the final step, and I fell to my knee.

The Temple was gone.

Which means...Kari is gone.


	2. Chapter One

It's been about four weeks since I lost Kari in Haven, and I have returned because there have been interesting rumors about this so called "Herald of Andraste." The Herald is a dwarven woman, who fell out of the fade with the help of the prophet Andraste. It's not just base speculation either. She had a meeting with the Chantry in Val Royeaux. I had come back to Haven, on a suspicion that the Herald was Kari. Although I can't imagine her doing anything with the Chantry.

A light snowfall calmed the place, getting trapped in my medium length auburn hair. The green brand mark showed now that I no longer had my hood up, matching my peridot green eyes. This so called Inquisition was all around Haven, making it look like a psuedo-fortress of sorts. I rubbed a gloved finger under my nose, the bitter cold irritating my nose hairs. I looked in the stables and saw a grand Ferelden Forder. Not that common of a sight this far west.

Taking a swig from my flask, I stepped forward through the wooden gates, into the small town. Tall, armor clad humans were parading around, scurrying to get information and crates of what I assumed were weapons. As I walked up the stairs, certain individuals caught my eyes. An elven woman who was just running from tree to tree throwing snowballs at chantry sisters. A dwarf sitting at a campfire with an open necked tunic, and oddly, no beard. He was writing on parchment with a raven quill.

There was a bald elf sitting on one of the stone walls that prevented drunkards from falling to the lower levels. He was deeply concentrated on my face, for the few seconds that our eyes met. I wouldn't have doubted it if he was a Dalish elf, even if he wasn't wearing the face paint. The dalish were always doing weird things like that.

Making my way up towards the Chantry building that had been remodled into this ramshackle fort's keep, I was stopped by a dark skinned human woman in chantry garb.

"I am sorry, my small friend. The Chantry building is closed while the Herald addresses matters with the leaders of the Inquisition..."

I brushed her aside, opening the door. "Tough shit." I said. "I have business with the Herald..." It might have sounded a bit harsher than I was going for, but I had been drinking heavily since returning to Ferelden. Not many pleasant memories occured here. Especially during the Fifth Blight.

I heard another woman's voice on my left as I entered, and only turned my head to see what character might be addressing me. Bald dark skinned human, orlesian fashion sense. "Dear, it would be wise to respect your elders-"

"And it would be wise for you to go back to Orlais, hag..."

She stopped immediatley, letting me continue my way. "Quite rude, my dear."

I didn't continue the conversation. I had reached the back room, tossing aside the scraggy guards as easily as ripping fresh bread apart to feed ducks. I forced the door open, prepared to find armed guards or something of the equal.

But, there were no guards. There were only five people in the room. One male human, three female humans, and standing before me, with her back turned, was the Herald of Andraste. A dwarf woman with shoulderlength black hair, a pair of braids adorning each side.

There was a long silence as each of us didn't know what to do next. I studied the faces of those that I could see. Dark skinned, lucious lips, hazel eyes, her hair wrapped in a bun of elegant design. An antivan necklace adorned her blue and gold outfit. Had she been there recently, or was she from there?

Big, burly man. Blonde hair, stubble that would make a dwarf cry at his age, a scar o his lip. There was painful memories behind his yellow eyes, though it seemed like he couldn't exactly piece together each memory fully. He looked familiar.

She I almost immediatley identified. Though she had aged, her features were unmistakable. Bright orange hair, the color of the fires that plagued Denerim at the final seige of the Fifth blight. Blue eyes, as sharp as an eagles, yet, as clear as the midday sky. Her hood might've been up over her head, but I saw remnants of the braid that I had associated with her face. Leliana?

She recognized me as well. It would be hard not to, with our history. We did both celebrate the slaying of Urthemiel in the same fashion.

"Adden?" she asked, reaffirming it for herself. I could feel her eyes look at the brand on my face, the one thing she could almost always identify me by.

"Leliana..." I said, as if I had expected her to be here.

"Leliana, you know this dwarf?" the last one said. Dark hair, formed into a sort of circlet, scard on her face, with eyes that pierced the soul. Feminine looking enough for a warrior, though based on the armor size, probably nothing underneath to compensate. Even if she was binding her chest, which most women did to make the armor less irritable.

"Yes...He and I..."

"We were both friends of Cadence." I said for her. I took a breath, checking everyone's faces for their reactions. The dwarf still refused to turn around.

"The Hero of the Ferelden?" the warrior asked, clarifying things. "But your stories about your times only mentioned a dwarf named Ohgren. Surely this cannot be him, you said that Ohgren was a drunkard."

"Not all dwarves are drunkards, woman." I said, feeling an insult to my pride.

The man spoke up. "So that flask tied to your belt, just for what, water?"

"Didn't say I wasn't a drunkard." I rebuttled.

The man shook his head. "That's enough of this. Guards, come take this drunkard to the prisons below the chantry. We'll find some way to deal with him."

A small, sob filled voice objected almost immediatley as the guards entered the room. "Wait! He can stay..."

"Are you sure, Herald? We can simply have this intruder removed an-"

"Yes..." The room quieted down until I could hear the sound of water hit the stone floor. She turned around, revealing emerald green eyes, a small feminine nose, thin lips formed in the shape of a frown, with purple eye liner running down cheeks of fair pale flesh. "After all, this is my brother."

She ran up and hugged me, falling to her knees as I did the same to support her. She let out heavy sighs and wails, crying into the sleeve of her grey outfit.

"Adden...I thought you were dead..." she whimpered through tears. "I thought that I was all alone...I thought that..."

I hushed her, embracing her. A tear ran down my own face into my beard. "You know how tough I am, Kari. It takes more than some explosion to kill me." She calmed down over the course of a minute or two, with everyone but Leliana leaving the room to give us privacy.

"How did you survive the explosion, Kari?"

"I don't even remember the explosion. I remember Cotr hitting on me again, going into the temple to find some quiet, and then the next thing I know I'm in handcuffs down in the basement." I glanced at Leliana when she said she was in handcuffs.

"Cassandra and I are to blame for that. As the only known survivor of the Conclave, she was our prime suspect. It was only later revealed to us that she is innocent."

"No shit..." I said, partially disturbed by the image of Kari killing thousand of people with anything other than a dagger or a bow and arrow.

"It's nice to see that your the same drunkard from ten years ago..." Leliana remarked. Her words stung like daggers into my brain. She left, and as her ass swayed to and fro, incomplete memories from a black out drunk night ten years ago ran through my head.

Kari and I stood up. "So..." I said. "Tell me about this Inquisition."


	3. Chapter Two

It had been about a week and a half since my joining of the Inquisition as a soilder, and bodyguard of the Herald of Andraste. Kari couldn't be happier that I joined, and I found solace knowing that she was indeed alive and well after the Conclave. I learned names, helped Kari and her team fix issues near Redcliffe, a town not ten years ago that I had helped Cadence save from it's own living corpses. It was nice to see Connor grown up once again, though he was kicked from the palace after Cadence took his magic and made him tranquil a decade ago.

We had recruited a Grey Warden by the name of Blackwall, a decent fellow who in my honest opinion held up the Grey Warden's code as well as the Hero and Alistair did. A qunari calling himself the Iron Bull also joined, but after my time in Kirkwall, I still can't fully trust him. He enjoys sharing drinks though. His Chargers are an excellent group as well.

Vivienne aren't friends, but we don't hate each other either. We have interesting quips about racist things, fashion of orlais, magic, and other things. It's sort of like a game, and even if she loses, which is rarely, Vivienne often enjoys them.

Varric and I are probably the only ones who became friends without trying. When I'm not all drunk and shit, our personalities are complimentay towards each other's. It seems that I'm one of the only inner circle members who enjoys playing wicked grace. He calls me 'Chief' as sort of a nickname. Bull seems to be picking it up as well.

Solas is a different story. He insists on referring to me as 'Child of the Stone.' I try to keep my distance from him. Sera is a bit too immature for my liking. I don't even know what she offers to Kari in exchange for her being in Haven.

There's been an awkward silence between Leliana and I. That night, ten years ago, after defeating the Blight, before we learned of the sacrifice the Hero made, and probably my leaving before she woke up in the morning...

There's this wall between us, and it needs to be torn down. I just don't know how to start the conversation. I've tried, four times now, but she's always too busy with spy reports to acknowledge my small presence. She does acknowledge me though, having the quartermaster scrounge me up a replica of the greatsword I used all those years ago. She cares, but I think she feels just as awkward as I do.

"Your crazy." Bull said. "A small guy like you, going to take on that?" Bull and I looked out from behind our cover at some Druffalo that roamed the woods near Haven. He and I had made a bet. If I could knock over a druffalo, he'd pay me four silvers. If I couldn't, I had to pay him the silvers.

"You nervous that you might lose, Bull?" I said, the smell of my breath layered with some West Hill Brandy. Bull didn't want any.

"Just get it over with so I can get my silvers." he said.

I calmed myself, looking at the nearest druffalo. All at once, I began shouting, and charged at it, sprinting as fast as I could. All at once, as I was clambering through the snow in a thick winter tunic and jacket, the druffalo noticed me, and as I was getting closer, raised it's hind hoof...

It kicked me back a few feet before running off. I couldn't see straight, and the wind had left my lungs, but there was one sound that was prevalent above the others. Bull laughing his ass off behind the rock a few yards behind me. Once I caught my breath, I simply just closed my eyes. I thought I saw Leliana standing over me before they shut for good.

I awoke freezing cold, my nipples freezing in the snowfall. There was a boiling cloth over a bruise on my ribcage, and I wasn't where I fell asleep. I was in a tent. Leliana's tent. I tried to sit up, but Leliana sounded against it.

"You have a broken rib and possibly a hang over. Not a smart idea to try to stand, Adden." I turned my head to see what she was doing. She was multitasking, sewing up some fabric, while periodically pausing to write on parchment with quills. These were most likely her spy reports, but it took me a while to recognize the fabric. It was my black winter tunic. The fact that it needed to be sewn and that I had taken a nasty hit from the kick.

I looked back up at the tent roof. "Did you carry me in?" I proposed, trying to get answers on my current condition.

"Bull and Blackwall did." The scribbles of her writing a report. "You almost got yourself killed. For a bet."

"Aye. Not the smartest idea I've ever had."

"Kari wants you in the war room to discuss Inquisition business."

I looked back over at her. "The Inquisition has nothing to do with me. I'm only here to protect the Herald."

"Whether you like it or not, Kari depends on you. And if we're being completely honest, we both know that she can defend herself better than you can."

A moment of silence. What had turned her this cold against me? I'll admit that we never saw eye to eye on religion back during the blight, but we were friends. Now, not so much.

"Are you still mad about the morning after?" It was a bold statement, well, question, to ask at that moment. It had been resting on her mind as well, because her response was revealing. She stood up, tossed the now finished tunic on my chest, walked out of the tent, pausing enough to say one phrase.

"You have no clue."

Then she left.

The meeting in the war room had to be postponed for a week before my ribs stopped aching. I got there in the middle of an argument, Cassandra and Cullen arguing amongst Leliana and Josephine. Kari was trying to mediate.

"The breach needs magic to close, powerful magic. We should seek the mages in Redcliffe for aid." Josephine argued towards Cullen.

"And I keep telling you that what you're invisioning is suicide. Enough magic poored into the Breach might as well expand it, save close it. Not to mention negotiating with this Magister Alexius would just hand the Herald over to enemy hands. We know the templars are at Therinfall Redoubt, they can do just as much as the mages." Cullen went on.

"Pure speculation." Leliana rebuttled.

"I was a templar. I know what they're capable of."

Kari slammed her fist into the table. "Enough!" She turned back towards me. "This is what I need your help with. You've sold lyrium to both the mages and the templars in question. We need one of their aid to close the Breach, and I don't have enough knowledge of either faction to make a decision."

I had Cassandra and Josephine explain the benifits of both sides to me, and what we would be facing in the inevitable storm to come.

The mages had been indentured to the Tevinter magister Gereon Alexius, whom a different Tevinter mage claims used time magic to come to the present from the future in order to claim the rebels for a faction called the Venatori. He expunged the Bann and royal family from the castle in Redcliffe. If we went there, a trap would most likely be waiting for Kari, whom this faction was obsessed with after the events of the Conclave.

The templars had withdrawn from the chantry, marching to Therinfall Redoubt for some reason. They wouldn't consider Kari as the Herald of Andraste in Val Royeaux. Something had changed with Lord Seeker Lucius Corin. Leliana continuously pointed out that the Lord Seeker's attitude adjustment continuously sent up red flags in her mind, though Cassandra shruged off her remarks to continue.

Either way, both ordeals put Kari in harms way, as I picked up on Leliana's senses. Both were traps, both involved negotiations in disguise of possibly killing Kari, the Herald. Whether it be to make a point, or whether it be because of something else...

Both situations were exactly the same, just with different players. There was a dagger on the table that I made my way over to. It felt rather small in my dwarvish hands.

Mages...or templars?

Templars...or mages?

With one swift motion, I raised the dagger to about eye level and stabbed it into the table. I felt the knife go through the wooden table. I turned to go out of the room, an emphasis on my decision. I could feel Kari's thankful smile follow me out. The last thing I heard before the guards shut the door behind me was Josephine.

"We'll get to work on preparations at once..."


	4. Chapter Three

"Shit always goes wrong, doesn't it, eh Vivenne?" I shouted above the sound of my greatsword splitting a frozen red templar. I failed to see the archer firing an arrow directly at my exposed head, but was relieved to see him set ablaze from the woman herself. An arrow from Kari put him out of the fight for eternity.

"Dear, do try to focus on the fighting." Vivienne shouted from yards behind me. As stuck up as she was, she was almost as good a mage as Cadence was.

It turns out that the templars had been corrupted by something called 'Red Lyrium.' Varric seemed familiar with it, and I had heard rumors about a red lyrium statue in Kirkwall months after I left it. But this stuff, seemed to fuse with their armors, no, with their bodies. It was actually foul what their blood smelled like. If you could call it blood.

Surprise, surprise, though, the entire plot was an ambush to kill the Herald of Andraste, however. I'm glad we brought some muscle in Bull, Vivienne and Varric, however. I was taken by surprise more often than I'd like to admit.

We had fought our way past most of the red templars, which turned out to be most of the lieutenants and captains. The final steps awaited us, the Lord Seeker waiting for us at the entrance to the keep. The eight of us, Kari, Bull, Vivienne, Varric, Barris, two other templars and I, ascended the final step to meet with the Lord Seeker. However, something seemed off. I didn't trust anything that was about to happen.

Without warning, the Lord Seeker seemed to reach for Kari's throat with both hands. I stepped infront of Kari, being grabbed by the throat instead. He seemed to drag me through the giant wooden doors, and the next thing I knew, I was in an empty black space.

Scenes from my memory seemed to float like stars inside the emptiness. My eyes scanned each individual one, revelling in each fond memory.

A tiny babe was in my hands, the sprouts of black hair complimenting the small white blanket that was swaddling the little dwarf. Mother with her similar dark hair was laying exhausted on her stone bed, the midwife helping clean up after mother's delivery. The small child lifted her tiny hand and touched my face, gunk smearing all over my cheek and all. I remember the jolt I felt in that touching of skin. That was the day that I made a vow to protect my baby sister.

I'm holding towels for the middle son of King Aeducan's house. Bhelen was speaking with his older brother, until I noticed the dagger on his thigh. With one swift motion, Bhelen stabbed his sibling in the back. The memory jumped forward to my trial, and the sentence on which I had been given. Public execution.

Cadence, the Hero of Ferelden, blocking a hit from a darkspawn with the use of his own body for me. He had cast a stasis spell on himself, and when the darkspawn redirected it's attention to me, Cadence transformed into an intimidating bear and sliced the darkspawn's legs with menacing claws. I remember the feeling of slicing that darkspawn in two.

An image of a small elven girl, dead on a prison floor, my sword on the ground next to me, bloodied and shimmering next to a torch. An image of Leliana next to me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

The battle of Denerim, slaying darkspawn after darkspawn, Leliana, Sten, and Oghren by my side. A magical force exploded from the top of Fort Drakon, and the darkspawn finally dispersed. Everyone cheered as they ran back into the forests, Leliana and I looking at each other with smiles on our faces. Vivid images of Leliana naked skirted past for a few seconds, and then I saw her asleep under the covers as I turned to open the door.

"You! You got in my way!"

A form of Leliana appeared further down the dark corridor, Eyes not exactly the right color.

"Are you a demon? You're wasting your time. Dwarves have no connection to the fade, therefore I cannot be possesed."

The demon scoffed. "You were not the one I wanted to become. But these memories in you head, they reveal that you are not given the credit that you are due. I am Envy, and I wanted your sister. However, true to your nature, you protected her from my influence."

"Where are we?" I asked.

"This is your mind. Blank, bland, boring. It is so that I might conserve my strength for when this process is over, so that I might take upon the form of your sister, the Herald of Andraste."

"You seek her status. You'll have to kill me before I let you touch her."

The demon version of Leliana shrieked a terrible sound. "That can be arranged..."

I just continued walking in this shadowy corridor. A voice, different from the Envy demon's, was echoing throughout the shadowy darkness.

"Don't be afraid, keep walking, don't stop. Eventually, you'll find yourself outside of your mind soon, if you make Envy use more strength then it wants."

"What do you mean? Is there some other demon in my mind?" I asked.

"No." An image of a young boy in an incredibly wide brimmed hat appeared on my blind spot. "At least, I don't think I'm a demon. I'm Cole. I came to help. I heard what the Envy demon wanted, and was curious about how you saved your sister."

"Right. Where'd you come from?"

"Too many possibilities, not enough securities, but it's the only work I can get. What would Kari think if she knew I had to resort to smuggling?"

"Okay...Can you stop that?"

He looked up, shocked. "I, am sorry. Sometimes I just can't help myself. These things are too loud to ignore. Just keep moving forward."

I kept to Cole's instructions, and kept moving forward. Pretty soon, true to Cole's word, the scenery changed to memories, Orzammar, Denerim, and then pretty soon, Therinfall. Right back to where the Envy demon pulled me in.

The plan was clear cut. Kari, Bull, Vivienne and Varric would go search for the other templars and the clean lyrium, and Barris, a few dozen templars and I would hold the hall while the others did their job. I voted to stay behind in the hall, as I had feared that the weakened templars might need a hand.

The first wave was pushing through the door. Barris and I braced ourselves for the first assault, standing well infront of the other two dozen templars. Time seemed to slow down as the doors were forced open and seven red templars charged our ranks. They came at us with claws and bows. The arrows flew by my armored jacket and beard, as the blade of my greatsword whirled into the abdomen of the first. Raising my left arm to block the claw of a second, redirecting it to just below Barris' sheild. The lyrium blood squirting from the severed arm after Barris' blade bit into it sprayed over the ground.

The second wave was more taxing than the first. The first wave was maybe seven or eight, five red templars, three archers. The second wave was a few over two dozen. We lost a few templars during that wave. The third wave seemed endless.

Barris was shot in the back, his fellow templar cut down just in time for the arrow to hit before I could cut down the hulking brute. The arrow cut deep, and though I knew a wound like this should be treated immediatley, I didn't have the resources nor the time.

Most of our templars had been pressed back behind me after Barris was critically wounded. There stood maybe nine red templars left, against just myself. I was going to die here. There was no doubt in my mind. It was time to return to the stone, join my parents, and those before them.

"Templars!" I shouted. "Remember this day! The day that your order fell, how you failed to see the corruption in your own command! Remember the faith that the Inquisition placed into you during this final stand, the faith that you should have never abandoned, the people you should have never abandoned!

"With my life, I urge you to join the Inquisition if you should survive this ordeal! They know what is right, as you should've known." I raised my sword, charging at the remaining red templar as if I was charging against the darkspawn back in Denerim.

"You, my dear, are criminally insane." Vivienne stood above me as I laid on the medical bed, mages drawing red lyrium out of my wounds. I had the claws and arrow heads stuck in my shoulders and my abdomen.

"As long as it worked." I said through a bruised face and beaten lip.

"You understand that everyone is worried about you, even Cassandra. If this red lyrium can taint the templars like it did, just imagine what horrific monster you'd turn into. Leliana almost shed a tear when we brought you in. I've never seen our spymaster so moved."

"We have, uh-" I winced as a I felt a certain burn enter and exit my left shoulder region. "Stone preserve us, watch your shit!"

"You shouldn't be so rude to healers, my dear. Well, not when they're playing inside your skin, anyway." She chuckled as I winced more from the unnatural pain. "You were saying?"

"Leliana and I have a certain history."

"Would that be a romantic history?"

"It wasn't at first..."


	5. Chapter Four

It took almost a week to perpare for the sealing of the Breach. The templars had their numbers strewn across thedas, and they were desperate to converge into their main forces again. Kari had decided to keep the order, joining as allies with the Inquisition instead of under it's banner. I couldn't be more proud of her.

Through the thick of things, the remaining red lyrium had been removed from my wounds, and now Vivienne's mages only worked to speed up the process of healing. Bull and his chargers kept me company during the down time, however. They were a fine group, they were.

Leliana wouldn't speak to me anymore, despite Vivenne attempts to bring up Leliana and I's strained relationship in small talk. I just don't understand that woman anymore. She wears the expression of a stone cold killer, which I know she can be, but when she looks at me, something melts, deep inside of her. Yet she refuses to bring it up or address it.

The worst part is definatley having to be sober for all the pain nulling herbs that the gave me after treatments. If you thought elfroot tasted bitter raw, you should try whatever those were. On an empty stomach no less.

The templars arrived a day late, thought things went smootly from there on out. I stood guard next to Kari as she reopened the rift, and sealed it below the breach, causing it to become inactive, the green meteors not decending upon the surrounding areas any longer. Solas said that it was still a threat, until we could find a way to permanently seal it, but it was dormant, no longer needing the Inquistition's direct attention any longer.

For the first time in the weeks since joinging the Inquisition, I saw Kari visably relax, and I intended to do the same, although, I planned on getting inebriated first. We planned on celebrating this small victory, of course. Which meant that booze would be flowing like water down a river. My kind of party.

I was already piss drunk, laughing my guts out as the songs just barely began to play. Perhaps I took the drink too seriously. Leliana looked as if she wasn't having any fun, so I decided to go and try to cheer her up, barely able to walk a straight line as it was.

"Hey there, gorgeous. Why donchu join ush fer a lil celebration?" I slurred, being that drunk.

She stared at me with a sneer. "If I heard you correctly, I think I'll pass on that. I have a job to do, Adden."

"Ish fine. You can do your job ladder. Relash, enjoy some booze, dance fer a bit. Kari seared the breach..."

Leliana looked towards the Iron Bull and Kari. "Herald, please do something about your brother."

I saw out of the corner of my eye Bull and Kari nod towards one another, and Bull set down his drink. The next thing that I knew, I was on Bull's shoulder, slung over it like a slab of meat, trying not to throw up what I had in my gut.

That's when the bells began to sound.

Without putting me down, Bull met with the others at the gates. Cullen, Josie, Leliana and Cassie all were present. I only caught a few phrases from the group's conversations.

"Cullen?"

"One watchgaurd reporting. It's a massive force, the bulk over the mountain."

"Under what banner?"

"None..."

"None?"

I squirmed my way down off Bull's shoulder. "If it's a fight they're looking for, it's a fight they're gettin..." I said, triumphantley.

"NO!" Kari yelled at me.

"Whaddaya mean no? People are coming to hurt you, and you want yer bodyguard to stay out of the fight?" I yelled back at her. Her brow was furrowed in anger, she stamped her foot and gave me, her brother, orders.

"No, I don't want you fighting. I want you to fall back into the Chantry and only fight should they breach the hall."

"I can protect more people on the battlefield!" Our faces were inches away, and I could smell the alcohol on both of our breath.

Then she said something that told me she wasn't just suggesting that I do what she told me. "You will obey Her Herald, or you can rot back in the Carta." The Carta bit was just insult to injury. She has _never_ reffered to herself as the Herald of Andraste in my presence. This showed me how serious she was.

I scoffed. "As you wish, dear sister." Stinging words to be sure. I spat on the steps as I made my way back to the hall.

Minutes passed as I passed back and forth bewteen cells downstairs in the chantry basement. I was furious, drunk, and humiliated by my own sister. The sounds of the trebuchets stopped. Something roared in the distance, reminding me of the roars of Urthemiel during the Seige of Denerim.

Footsteps above as people tunneled into the Chantry. A few moments later, Bull, Varric, Cassie, Solas, and a man who introduced himself as Dorian came downstairs to collect me.

"Sorry Chief," Varric said, with a sad layer to his often charming voice. "Your sister doesn't want to take any chances."

It only took a moment for them to answer the question that I was going to ask. Bull picked me up, bear hug holding me while Solas waved a hand over my eyes. My vision immediatley went black as I passed out from some sort of mental suggestion magic, sort of like the spirit magic that Cadence used during the blight.

I awoke in a small cart, stopped at the top of what seemed to be a mountain pass.

"There she is. Send up the flare." Cullen's voice. "Maker's breath that dragon is ghastly. Wait, what is that?"

I sat up to get a better look at the surroundings. Snow everywhere, it was cold, and just about everyone from Haven was before me. Cassie, Cullen, Leliana and Josie were standing on some sort of cliff face, Bull, Varric, Dorian, Cole, Vivienne, Sera, Solas, and Blackwall behind or around them.

I staggered off the cart and made my way over to the crowd, drink still in my system. We were on the mountain behind Haven, looking down on it. From my point of veiw, all i could see was an enormous black dragon looking down at one of our trebuchets. One of the scouts had a spyglass, which I forcibly took to get a better veiw.

Kari stood, back turned to the dragon in her black and drakestone studded ranger armor. Flames erupted around her, giving off a certain glimmer on her face, probably sweat. She looked at someone out of the veiw of my spyglass, who I turned to look at.

He was big, maybe nine foot tall. Shards of red lyrium extruding from his face. He wore a hood, which seemed to be attached to his shoulders and his skin. His ribcage seemed exposed, made of the same red lyrium as the shards protruding from his face. Below that was perhaps the remnants of a robe, by the design, maybe Tevinter based on the dark fabrics.

"Is that...Corypheus?" I heard Varric say from behind me. Perhaps he got a spyglass as well. "Shit..."

We watched for a few moments as the creature picked up my sister, throwing her at the trebuchet, and even from here I could feel the thud of her body hitting the wood. As the flare behind us went up, I saw Kari glance in our general direction, obviously taking note of whatever signal we were sending.

I watched in horror as Kari kicked the trebuchet, sending one of the last remaining rocks in it's possession into a mountainside directly behind the small town. As the avalanche pursued, our cliff face began to shake, forcing me to back away, missing the scene as the dragon flew off into the distance.

When I looked back, I scanned the fallen snow. Nothing but white. The dragon flew off, in the direction away from us, but neither the creature or Kari were seen anywhere in the collapsed town of Haven.

I took a knee. This time, it was for real. There was no chance that Kari survived the avalanche. As Cullen and Dorian explained the plan that Kari herself came up with, I grew increasingly enraged at myself.

"I should've been down there! I should've been fighting! Why am I so worthless? I couldn't even protect my own sister!"

Leliana put her hand on my shoulder, the glove being removed, her tiny feminine hands taking me by surprise.

"You have it wrong, Adden. She thought that you were too valuable to lose. She was protecting _you_."

"That's not how it's supposed to happen!" I yelled.

"But it did, and you need to live with it. What would have happened if you had fought? In your drunken state, you would have misjudged, you would have made errors, you would have died. That is a risk that Kari could not afford to make, and more likely than not, you would've died, _and_ Kari would've needed to sacrifice herself to save the people gathered here at Haven anyway."

Those words. Words of truth, words of wisdom, words I could not have truly focused on had I been sober. The simple thought pattern I felt now is the only thing that allowed me to hang onto those words for as long as I have. She wanted to keep me safe. If I was being completely honest with myself, she has never needed my protection. When she was a babe, aye, she did then, but since being taken from Orzammar, she could often fend for herself.

Even in combat, I guess she could defend herself. She favored the bow, I favored clunky two handed weapons. In a way, she often eliminated enemies that were in my blind spot for me. Shit. All this time I saw her as that tiny baby I held in my arms the same year we lost our father to the great dwarven game. Never had I thought that she would turn out like me. Strong willed, stubborn. Aye she drinks, but I drink often to forget bad memories.

"Let's go, my dear. We need to get moving." Vivienne said. I could hear their footsteps in the snow, as all but Leliana moved to follow the horde of people.

"I am sorry, Adden. She was much like how you were when we first met." With that, Leliana's hand left my shoulder, but as I turned my head, she stopped, and picked up an Inquisition blade, and gave it to me.

I grasped it in my hands, blade facing down, and yelling at the top of my lungs, jabbed it into the stone and permafrost. It was a warrior's grave, and though I had nothing of her's to place on top of it, no helmet, no bracer, no item of sentimentality, I didn't leave the sword bare. The flask that I had on my waste, adorned it. I wouldn't be needing it any longer.

I pray to the human's Maker that Kari would be recieved into the life after with open arms...


End file.
